What started with a domestic disturbance early Wednesday morning ended with two police officers almost blinded by a noxious powder.

Staff reports

What started with a domestic disturbance early Wednesday morning ended with two police officers almost blinded by a noxious powder.

Officers Paul Crowe and Brett Flaitz were covered with a white powder which, according to Hornell Police Chief Theodore Murray, was what appeared, “to be some kind of powdered form of tear gas.”

The alleged attacker, James Kays, 28, of 19 Delaware Ave., Hornell, was charged with second-degree aggravated harassment, third-degree assault, and possession of a noxious substance after the incident, but the charges may be upgraded.

Kays was sent to the Steuben County jail and has been released after posting $2,500 cash bail.

“We're discussing the possibility of upgrading the charges with the District Attorney's office,” Murray said.

“The officers responded to an argument between a man and a woman in a parking lot,” Murray said. “Kays got into an argument with an individual (Crowe) was interviewing, and Kays went back to his vehicle, grabbed a handful of the powder, and threw it” in the direction of the person being interviewed and the officers.

Both officers are doing fine as of this morning, according to Murray, but he is still worried about potential after-effects of the powder.

“We still don't have it completely identified, which bothers me,” Murray said.